In the manufacture of metal fence posts, it is common practice to perform a number of operations on posts or post stock with them in horizontal positions, including the operation of applying an overall paint job to the posts. However, the trade demands that the posts be white capped. To our knowledge this has been done by terminating the horizontal flow in advance of the white capping operation, then taking the posts, hanging them vertically, and passing them through a white dip bath. This is time-consuming and thus an expensive operation, and it does not lend itself to being integrated into horizontal flow path of the preceding operations.